Project Type: Loch Creatures

Mayfly larva

This is a drawing of the mayfly larva we found in Banton Loch.

The mayflies fly to mate and after mating they lay their eggs then die by the end of the day. May flys consume algae during the larva stage.
Adults do not have functioning mouths and do not eat. May flies are an important source of food to predators like fish frogs and other things.
Mayflies only go through three stages and that is egg larva then adult. Their is about 2.500 species of mayfly around the world.

There is 300 species of waterboat man.

water boatmen are dark brown. 

There legs are in the middle and at the front of my body.

Water boatmen live in lochs and rivers.

Water boatmen are herbivores.

Water boa men eat algae.

Water boatmen bite. 

Tadpoles

Tadpoles are weird looking creatures but cool at the same time. They have big heads and very long tails. The mother will lay thousands of tiny jelly covered eggs that look like dots. The tadpoles are born with gills like fish so they can breath under water where they live.

The jelly eggs are tiny but taste horrible so that there predators won’t want to eat them for they will taste horrible and disgusting. The tadpoles hatch from the tiny little eggs and live in the water then turn into froglets and there body shrinks and legs grow after that they turn into frogs where there tail disappears more or less and the back legs grow in more.

They can grow up to 11mm so they are quite small. There scientific name is a gammarus and you can see them all year round. They are in the uk and they don’t live very long the live about 9 to 12 months. You mostly see them in slow streams and sometimes in ponds and lakes and we saw them at a loch. They eat algae. They are sometimes grey and sometimes an orange-brown colour. They have 7 pairs of legs and 2 pair of antennae. They are often found in groups and they swim on there side.